[Jamestown1630]

We use oatmeal in our house, too - my husband’s recipe. But I think what I liked about my Granny’s recipe is that at some point, it included that little packet of dried onion stuff - the one you make onion dip out of. And there wasn’t a lot of tomato-y stuff in it.

But she was making this recipe before i think that she could have gotten that dried onion; so I’m thinking there must have been an older recipe.

It was just very savory, and nicely firm when it was cold...

-JT

[fatnotlazy]

I know many people use onion soup mix. It's good tasting, but high sodium which I have to avoid. So I just grate fresh onion.

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

I use a can of this It is not sweet and a little hot but good.

[Hardens Hollow]

I’ve never tried this one, but your mentioning onion soup or dip mix gave me something to search for.

This is from allrecipes, and has a rating of 4.3 stars with over 2000 reviews.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef

1/2 cup crushed buttery round crackers

3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1 (1 ounce) package dry onion soup mix

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup ketchup

2 tablespoons steak sauce

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Stir the ground beef, crushed crackers, Cheddar cheese, and onion soup mix in a large bowl until well combined. Whisk the eggs, ketchup, and steak sauce in a separate bowl until smooth. Mix the eggs into the meat until evenly combined, if the mixture seems too dry, add a little water. Press into a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven until the meatloaf reaches 160 degrees F (71 degrees C) and is no longer pink in the center, 45 to 60 minutes.